


Colour'd Thus

by Crowgirl



Series: On the Strength of the Evidence [46]
Category: Grantchester (TV)
Genre: Consensual Infidelity, Domestic Fluff, Established Relationship, F/M, Family, Fluff, Found Family, M/M, Unconventional Families
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-19
Updated: 2018-01-12
Packaged: 2019-02-17 06:00:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,587
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13070607
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Crowgirl/pseuds/Crowgirl
Summary: Afternoon tea.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> [You may wish to look at this photograph first in order to share fully in Jennifer's -- and my -- sartorial horror.](https://www.pinterest.com/pin/463518986629381326/)

Sidney carefully avoids Jennifer’s eye -- easy to do since she still has her head buried in her hands -- and devotes himself to the exact proportion of sugar to milk in his tea.

Geordie simply looks baffled. ‘What?’

Jennifer raises her head and wipes at her eyes. ‘You’re joking. You _must_ be joking.’

‘About what?’ 

A burst of laughter comes from the corner of the garden where, Sidney sees, Johnny is teaching the girls to do cartwheels and Ivy has just toppled into the pansies. 

‘What on _earth_ possessed you--’ Jennifer turns abruptly on Sidney. ‘What possessed _you!’_

‘Me! What have I got to do with it?’ Sidney drops his spoon on his saucer and sits back with his tea cup. Out of the corner of his eye, he can see Geordie shrug off the jacket and drape it over the back of his chair. It isn’t really cool enough out for him to need it, and Sidney wonders momentarily why he had bothered to put it on at all. A moment later, Geordie leans forward to pick up a scone and Sidney sees Johnny’s jacket draped over the back of his chair, thinks about his own on the back of his chair, and feels a bit of a fool for not having put it together sooner.

Jennifer gives him the look that she’s perfected over the years: the silent questioning of his intelligence, and he shrugs. ‘I’m not this year’s fashion consultant, Jen. The man’s an independent adult. I’ve got nothing to do with it.’ It isn’t what he would have picked, of course, but Geordie didn’t ask him. And he doesn't know if it's the usual thing after several years together but he's still so pleased that he gets to be the one to take things _off_ Geordie -- at least occasionally -- to worry too much about what the man puts _on_ first. 

‘Oh, no, of course not.’ Jennifer rolls her eyes and, as Geordie shifts position to butter a scone, she gets a full view of the jacket and flinches theatrically. ‘Oh, please, _please_ sit on it again!’

Geordie starts and glances around. ‘What? What are you talking about?’

Jennifer extends one dramatically trembling finger. _‘That.’_

Cathy, coming out with a pitcher of hot water for the teapot, sees Jennifer’s gesture and laughs. Jennifer turns and gives her an overdone look of commiseration. ‘You poor woman!’

Cathy shrugs, pouring the hot water into the pot. ‘Oh, it’s not so bad--’ She looks over at Geordie for a moment and gives the jacket a thoughtful look. Geordie is staring at Jennifer and, very slowly, starting to flush. ‘Although it is -- _brighter_ out here, I’ll grant.’

‘Where on earth did it _come_ from?’

Cathy replaces the lid of the teapot and stands tapping her fingers against the empty pitcher. ‘I can’t remember -- Geordie, did you get that in Edinburgh?’

‘London,’ Geordie says flatly, scrabbling the jacket off the back of the chair with one hand and dropping it under the table. He sits back up and begins to add milk to his tea with the kind of focus he normally saves for crime scene photographs. 

Jennifer sighs with exaggerated relief as it disappears and leans forward, her elbows on the table. ‘Well, the next time you’re in London, you tell me beforehand, all right?’

‘Why?’ 

Sidney had glanced over to watch Johnny balance Esme through a handstand against the garden fence but he hears the tightness in Geordie’s voice and looks back. Geordie’s focused on his cup of tea, but Sidney can see the flush over the back of his neck. 

‘So you don’t end up with something like -- like _that_ again.’ Jennifer stabs her finger at the table and Sidney has known this semi-serious tone for years -- since the first time he and his mother went shopping alone, if he remembers rightly, and he brought home some sort of tie that had nearly sent Jennie into fits. But Geordie is getting stiffer by the minute, the color creeping up into his cheeks, and he’s glaring at his tea hard enough to bring it to the boil. Sidney shifts in his chair, unable either to reach out to Geordie or think of anything to give Jennifer the hint, and prays silently for her to look at Geordie, to realise that he _doesn’t_ understand. 

‘Don’t worry--’ She leans back in her chair and Sidney tries to catch her eye, give her some kind of signal to stop. He knows that the last thing she has in mind is actually making Geordie feel badly -- she’s teasing Geordie exactly the same way she’s teased Sidney all his life, but Geordie doesn’t _know_ that and Sidney can almost see him pulling back into himself. 

‘--I’ve been sorting him out for years.’ Jennifer nods at Sidney and gives him a narrow-eyed look. ‘Remember that tie?’

‘Mum said it was quite nice,’ Sidney says, leaning forward and putting his cup back on the table. He needs an excuse to touch Geordie, even just a fly to brush off his shoulder. No matter how much all the adults present in this garden might tacitly understand what the relationships are here, nothing can be said aloud, certainly not with the girls here. 

‘Mum was nearly colorblind and thought you could do no wrong,’ Jennifer corrects him. ‘And that red shirt -- oh my lord.’ She rolls her eyes and then squeezes them shut in pretended pain.

‘I thought that shirt wasn’t half-bad,’ Johnny says mildly, coming up with Ivy on one shoulder and Dora on the other, each clinging to one of his hands. 

‘And that’s because you, my love, only have good taste in music.’ Jennifer smiles up at him and smoothes a hand over the placket of his shirt, taking all the sting out of her words with the touch. 

‘I liked it, too,’ Geordie says, pushing his chair back and grabbing the jacket from under the table. ‘Sidney doesn’t get to wear color too often. That one suited him.’ He balls the coat up unceremoniously under one arm. ‘Excuse me--’ He turns away without waiting and vanishes up the back steps.

‘Jennie--’ Sidney glowers at her over the table, shoving his own chair back. Johnny takes his cue and turns back around, asking the girls if they like to do somersaults. 

‘What?’ Immediately sober, Jennifer sits forward, putting her cup down. She glances between Geordie, just disappearing into the kitchen, and Sidney. ‘Did I say something? I didn’t mean--’

‘No, I know you didn’t, but couldn’t you see he hated it?’ Sidney keeps his voice pitched low so there’s no chance the girls might overhear.

‘I--’ Jen looks again between him and the house door, just now opening to let Cathy and Caro out onto the lawn. ‘I’m sorry -- Sidney -- I didn’t --’ She moves to get up. ‘I was just teasing, I -- should I go and apologize?’

‘Who set Geordie off?’ Caro inquires airily as she comes within earshot of the table, her sharp eyes sweeping between Sidney, Jennifer, and Johnny. ‘He came in the house just now looking like a young thundercloud.’ Her gaze pauses on Jennifer who is starting to flush pink over the ears.

‘Me, I’m afraid,’ Jennifer says. ‘I’ll just--’

‘Best let Sidney have a word first,’ Cathy says, putting her hand on Jennifer’s shoulder as Sidney turns towards the steps.

* * *

‘Geordie?’ He isn’t in the kitchen or the sitting room, and Sidney goes straight upstairs. ‘Geordie!’

There’s no answer, but the door to the attic stairs is open. 

* * *

‘What are you doing up here?’ Sidney puts up a hand to keep himself from walking into one of the low-slung beams.

Geordie jerks around as if he hadn’t heard Sidney come up the stairs and loses his grip on the lid of the trunk he has open. It goes down with a bang and a cloud of dust and Geordie sighs, then sneezes, waving his hand in front of his face to dispel the cloud. ‘Just taking care of something.’

‘Jennifer didn’t mean anything,’ Sidney says, coming a few steps further into the low-ceilinged room. It isn’t terribly comfortable since he has to stand in a crouch or risk cracking his head against a rafter. ‘She was just trying to be funny.’

Geordie’s expression solidifies, and he shrugs. ‘I’ll try not to insult her sensibilities in future.’

‘Geordie--’ Sidney sighs and puts out a hand towards him. When Geordie ignores it, Sidney scowls at him, then closes the space between them, takes Geordie’s hand and risks sitting on the trunk Geordie had been fiddling with. ‘She didn’t mean anything by it.’

‘Sounded like she did.’

Sidney shakes his head. ‘She’s been making fun of my clothes my whole life. She was just -- trying to tease you.’ 

Geordie grunts, then clears his throat. ‘It’s not like I need reminding, you know.’ 

‘Need reminding... of what?’

‘That your sister and you --’ Geordie waves his free hand vaguely, then shoves it in his trouser pocket. ‘Well, we didn’t exactly go to the same schools, did we.’

Sidney blinks at him and, for a moment, can’t decide whether he’s offended or not. ‘You -- are you joking?’

Geordie shakes his head, looking down at their clasped hands and running his thumb along Sidney’s knuckles. ‘But if she was...then I should learn not to be an ass about it.’ 

Sidney hesitates for a moment then decides to deal with the problem immediately before him. Geordie’s class anxiety can wait for another day. ‘She was trying to tease you.’ He shakes Geordie’s hand gently. ‘She _likes_ you.’

Geordie gives him a somewhat shamefaced look then gives himself a shake and pinches at his eyes. ‘I’m sorry, I -- I promise to behave like a reasonable human being for the rest of the afternoon.’ He holds up his free hand in something that Sidney thinks is meant to be a Boy Scout salute.

Sidney laughs and kisses the back of Geordie’s hand. ‘Don’t do anything to hurt yourself.’ He stands up, only remembering at the last minute to dodge the rafter. Having to crouch, though, puts him at a perfect angle to kiss the top of Geordie’s ear; having started there, it seems like far too much of a good thing to stop, and it’s a few minutes before they pull apart, Geordie’s hands on Sidney’s chest. 

‘You’re sure we have to go back down?’ Geordie murmurs, stroking his thumb over the soft skin behind Sidney’s earlobe.

Sidney shudders, feeling the touch straight down to his toes, and has to muster himself to lift Geordie’s hand away. He kisses Geordie’s fingertips and, reluctantly, lets go of his hand. ‘Yes, we do. But I said I’d watch the girls while you two take Caro out for her end of term dinner, and you know Cathy will want to see her home after.’

Geordie smiles and leans up to kiss him, slow and soft. ‘Lovely.’


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After afternoon tea.

Sidney doesn’t realise how close he’s come to falling asleep in front of the sitting room fire until he hears the front door bang. He has a moment or two to try and rouse himself -- unsuccessfully -- before Geordie comes in through the door, running his hands back through his hair and, even to Sidney’s sleepy eye, looking put out.

Sidney goes to stand, forgetting he has a book open over his knees, and starts at the _clap_ when it hits the floor. In between his bending to retrieve the volume and straightening again, Geordie has crossed the room and is standing directly in front of him.

‘Is something--’ Sidney doesn’t get a chance to finish the question because Geordie is kissing him, careful and firm at the same time. His hands come up to cup Sidney’s face and Sidney lets his own hands find their way to Geordie’s waist.

‘I’m not complaining,’ Sidney says, a little breathlessly, when Geordie moves back. ‘But what was that about?’ Since they can’t indulge in anything like affectionate greetings on a regular basis, they’ve come to a kind of wordless agreement to leave such things aside.

Geordie runs a hand back through his hair and makes to step back but Sidney firms his hands and Geordie stays in place.

‘It’s -- nothing. ‘m being...daft.' Geordie shakes himself in a visible attempt to get rid of whatever his odd mood is and smiles, reaching up to run his fingers through the hair over Sidney’s ear. ‘’m glad to see you.'

Sidney ducks forward and kisses him again. ‘I’m glad to see you, too, but there is something.’

Geordie holds still for a moment, then sighs and sags, pressing his forehead against the front of Sidney‘s shoulder. ‘It -- it’s just bein’ around Cath and Caro. It’s... hard sometimes.’ He shakes his head, but says nothing else.

Sidney rubs at Geordie‘s shoulders, trying to knead them; whatever Geordie been brooding on, he’s been at it for a good few hours, long enough to lock his muscles like wood. Geordie doesn’t usually complain about a dinner with Cathy and Caro -- but this afternoon hadn’t quite gone as any of them had planned and, in the confusion around getting Johnny and Jennifer off to their train and the girls’ dinner ready, Sidney hadn’t even had a chance to wish them all a good evening before the three of them left. 

And if he thinks about it, perhaps Sidney’s felt something similar watching the easy confidence the two women have with each other, the amount of wordless communication they can engage in, the number of ways they have to communicate affection, trust, desire to each other without anyone else knowing. ‘Because we -- can’t do what they can?’ 

Geordie shakes his head, then nods, then laughs at himself. ‘Maybe. A little. I -- they’ve had so much time. And...and...’ Geordie blows his breath out in a huff and laughs again, a little regretfully. ‘I don’t even know if you’d order wine at dinner.’

Sidney laughs, too, and presses his fingertips a little harder into the tight muscle along Geordie’s spine. Geordie sighs and gives against him, letting Sidney carry some of his weight. ‘We have time, Geordie.’ Honesty pushes him to add: ‘Not the same kind they have but -- our own.’

Geordie nods, his hair rasping against Sidney's shirt. ‘I know.’

Sidney knows he doesn’t, not really, any more than Sidney himself does but they both have to trust in it anyway. ‘Come on -- let me give you a back rub. Your shoulders are set like rock. Is Cathy coming back tonight?’

Geordie takes a deep breath and steps back, shaking his head. ‘No -- no, she’ll be back for breakfast, she said.’

Sidney hates to say it -- right now especially -- but he has to. ‘You know I can't stay.’

Geordie nods, a little glumly. ‘I know.’

‘But I don’t have to leave now.’ Sidney hesitates -- he wants to go on and say all sorts of things, things he’s only half-thought out about how he loves that they get any time together at all, almost regardless of when or where it is, is so grateful to Cathy and to Caro for understanding, for helping, for--

‘No.’ Geordie shakes himself again and blinks rapidly a couple of times, then smiles at Sidney. ‘Back rub, you said.’

Sidney smiles back. ‘I did. Oh,’ he adds as Geordie turns towards the sitting room door, ‘and no, I wouldn’t.’

‘What?’ Geordie glances back, a furrow between his eyebrows.

‘Wine with dinner.’ Sidney slips his fingers between Geordie’s. ‘I never liked it.’

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks as always to the best of all betas, [elizajane](http://archiveofourown.org/users/elizajane), [the Lady Kivrin](http://archiveofourown.org/users/Kivrin), and [Burning_Up_A_Sun.](http://archiveofourown.org/users/Burning_Up_A_Sun/pseuds/Burning_Up_A_Sun)
> 
> Title comes from [Cymbeline](http://www.bartleby.com/70/4651.html).
> 
> And just for the record? [That red shirt is horrible, too.](https://www.pinterest.com/pin/687221224360666910/) Someday I'm going to write a fic just to destroy it.


End file.
